Place sliced onions in cold water to remove bitterness.
Mix 2 1/4 cups of the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking powder and seasoned salt in a large bowl. Place rest of flour in a separate bowl. Combine the milk and buttermilk in another separate bowl. Dredge onions in flour, then milk, and then dry batter. Fry at 325F-350F for about 2 minutes or until crisp.

If Sherrie's objection is that they are made with beer, which of course has alcohol in it (not that this is a real life concern, as the alcohol will quickly cook out at the temp's this is cooked at), why not use the "beer" that is "de-alcoholized"? but for cooking would impart pretty much the same flavours and textures?

As for "big rings"/"small rings" issues, you could do thesimple thing of separating them, and cooking separately, as this would be easier than pulling them individually as you judged them "done"

Sherrie extremely dislikes the smell and taste, even of non-alcoholic beer. I think it must be the hops or some other ingredient. I've tried to start by putting in just a small amount, but no luck. Deb, how long should I soak the onions in the water? Lifter, it's not so much a sorting issue, I think I may just use the medium to small rings and not the large ones.

Part of the popularity of beer batter is the yeast flavor. if you use quick acting or intant dry yeast in your batter, you will get the bubbles and the yeast flavor.

Usually (but not always), comercial onion rings are made by dipping the rings into an egg-was, then flour, then egg-wash again, then bread crubs. I've done this and they come out wonderful. I like them much better this way than dipped in plain batter.

In addition, you could dip the onion in a tempura batter made with 1/2 cup- AP flour, and 1/2 cup-cornstarch. Mix in one large egg and 3$ cup milk and 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir intil smooth.

If you are worried about the onion being undercooked, after frying to a golden brown, place in a 350 degree oven for an additional 15 minutes or so.

You can also season your batters with garlic, red pepper, or whatever you like. These things can be quite creative. And don't limit yourself on dips either. There's more to life than Ranch flavor.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

__________________“No amount of success outside the home can compensate for failure within the home…"

Here's what we do at the club I work at. First, we slice a bunch of onions (about 10), and separate the rings. All the smaller rings get put back and used by whomever for whatever they need (we always make sure everyone knows that the onions are "fair game"). Make a beer batter with Drake's batter mix. Dredge the onions in flour, then a quick dip in the batter, then into the fryer for about a minute, to set the batter. Out of the fryer, and onto a sheet pan to drain. Carry-over cooking from the fryer usually cooks the onions, without over-cooking the batter. Once we have a goodly amount on the sheet pan, we'll freeze the onion rings. This way, when we get an order, we only have to cook the rings for about 2 minutes.

This past year I've really gotten into splitting an order of onion rings when we go to a restaurant. I don't have a deep fryer - don't really like deep fried foods in general very much. I have tried to make the onion rings in a pan on the stove as well as baked in the oven, but they just don't taste as good. Any suggestions appreciated.

this is my own recipe,which is easy,simple and plain delicious!actually i made them last night,and they were gone in like 5 minutes! that too because we are just two people,otherwise if we had kids i'm sure they would have been gone in less than a minute,lol.
ok...beat a large egg and season it with a little salt,black peppar and some chinese salt.Dip the onion rings in egg,then take them out and roll in all-purpose flour,dip again in egg,and finally roll them in bread crumbs and deep fry.Oh and if u dont have a deep fryer,u could also use a sauce pan or any other pan which is st least a little deap,so as to hold some oil!

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Don't let love interfere with your appetite. It never does with mine.